Boraie Development Completes Newark High Rise 50 Years After Last One Built

One Rector Street in Newark, NJ is now open for renting and it’s the first high rise building Newark has seen built in 50 years. Boraie Development was the main planner and capital holder for this property, but they also worked with several private contractors and city leaders who subsidized the project. But one other famous person who partnered with Boraie Development in this property investment was Shaquille O’Neal, the longtime NBA star. O’Neal grew up in Newark and had always considered returning to it at the end of his MBA career to help the community out. He bought a small portion of the shares in One Rector Street and even told reporters at the opening that he’s considering moving into the top floor. Upon hearing that, some in the crowd started naming the property Shaq Tower.

Boraie Development is a company who has worked hard to spur New Jersey’s real estate industry, and they’ve worked with commercial banks, public fund managers and private contractors in each project. Omar Boraie decided to start the company over 40 years ago after relocating to New Brunswick, NJ to teach chemistry at Rutgers. He saw a lot of empty building lots in the city that he decided to buy, and he told some development groups that he was going to rebuild the city. Most told him he couldn’t do it, but Boraie started having buildings completed on his properties anyway. It was the Albany Street tower one that was finished first, and the plaza was completed with tower two in 2003. That was the start of of Boraie Development’s portfolio becoming successful. You can check out pressofatlanticcity.com for more details.

High rise buildings were not popular at the time in New Jersey when Boraie Development first decided to build one at One Spring Street. But that would change when this property was finished as all 25 stories were completely rented out. After that happened, Boraie Development became convinced they could continue bringing more high rises to the city, so they added The Aspire near the New Brunswick metro station and One Rector Street followed. Also built in New Brunswick and Newark were the Estates at Waverly Place, the CITYPLEX 12 area and the Milltown Ford Avenue housing. Omar Boraie is mostly retired today with his sons Wasseem and Sam managing most of the company’s decisions now, but he was recently honored with the Omar Boraie Chair at Rutgers University’s genomics science department for a grant he gave to it. For more details visit crunchbase.com